The Killing Moon
by klomystr
Summary: 12 yrs postseries, Jin's hired to kill the elusive leader of an underground railroad helping persecuted Christians settle on southern islands. Why does the leader's name "Momo" sound so familiar? Slow start, better end! Sequel to Halo, a new story.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One: Scarlet nights

Later, Jin realized just how much his mind had faltered in the service of corruption.

But many years earlier, just weeks after he walked away from his only friends at the crossroads, Jin reached a profound conclusion in his meditations: that because of his friendship with the samurai's daughter and the capricious criminal, he was no longer capable of serving only his own needs. Not that he needed a master – far from it; he'd never felt so capable of independent thought in his life – but without a quest, he was without purpose, and painfully lost.

In the first years that followed, Jin methodically scoured the countryside, doing whatever he could for anyone who needed a strong young man – the sclerotic old man picking up sticks to stoke winter fires, the harried innkeeper with rodents to slay – for as long as he could, at least until he realized that such tasks didn't provide a full belly. Always the pragmatist, Jin started to alternate these services with ones that did fill his belly, and provide him shelter, and best of all, made sharpening his daisho worthwhile – dispatching a lady's letter to her criminal lover, executing that unfaithful lady's lover and returning a lock of his hair to her husband – so that he never felt hungry for long, whether it was for sustenance of the stomach or of the soul. At some point he couldn't quite recall, the difference between the two became insignificant.

And so, over the years, Jin stopped picking up sticks.

Eight years ago, he became a full-time hired assassin for "Hidetoshi Karu, Fifth Magistrate of…". He never needed to go further in the announcement of his employer's title. At that point, the brave would interrupt so as to achieve a quicker death, the cowardly, for a recitation of lies or pleas or regrets, and the truly worthy would preemptively move themselves on to the next life.

Memories of the crossroads, or the time before, came only late at night, under the moon. In the warmth of the sun, Jin slayed the vermin of the world at the behest of his master Hidetoshi. And his days were never without purpose in this service, and his belly was always full. He found he no longer needed to meditate in the evenings, for his path was always clear and straight before him.

Yet at night he dreams of blood seeping forth from a crescent moon.

ooooooooooooooooooooooo

"Do you understand? You must arrive before the decoy goods reach the village, but make yourself invisible on your way there. We don't want this criminal woman's accomplices to know we're on to their game, neh?" Hidetoshi's secretary always wanted to sound as though he was a brilliant strategist in a game of dominoes, Jin noted. "We are working to catch her friends upstream, but first we must build our dam at the river's mouth, neh?"

As Jin could not roll his eyes for propriety's sake, he merely squinted a hair's breadth's more.

"Identify this "Momo" woman, find out where she sends these miserable Christians, then execute her, but keep it quiet!" This last part was delivered in a whispery hiss, predictably.

ooooooooooooooooooooooo

Jin easily fell into his old habits of traveling on the road. Though the magistrate's purse could easily keep him fed and bedded at the best inns on his entire journey, he found, as so long ago, that a rich traveler is more obviously spotted as a servant of the shogunate to distrust; he therefore kept his purse well hidden and kept to the meaner huts and campsites. He didn't deny himself the luxury of well-prepared meals, for he found that not only did he pick up useful bits of information in tea houses or at food sellers' stalls, but that his blades struck truer, albeit fractionally so, when his belly was satisfied.

It took Jin a week to reach the area where the Christians were supposedly disappearing. The southern coast was covered in forest, with roads and rivers meandering through, connecting village to village. It was an area where concealment and conspiracy would be easy. For a couple of years, the local officials hadn't realized this region was the major highway for the trafficking of Christians; they'd only ploddingly been investigating an increase in the flow of goods and food that didn't quite seem to correlate with an increase in the wealth and prosperity of the fishing villages along the coast. It was only when an overly diligent scribe in the town to the north started to chronicle the rice and vegetable trade by taxes levied against caravan wagons on their way south that two and two were put together.

Once the magistrate was alerted, he wasted no time in sending spies south to gather rumors of this Christian underground. Soon enough, they returned with vague rumors of the mastermind of this operation, a shockingly female individual called "Momo". Once Momo's name was discovered, the spies found that using it unlocked an increasingly outrageous number of tales and tattles. This only further alarmed Hidetoshi as evidence of an extensive network of accomplices. His first move was to send a decoy cart overflowing with delicacies to the area, manned by two samurai. They passed undisturbed from village to village, peddling their fare with ease. This convinced the magistrate that the waylaid "goods" were people, not rice cakes. Being a man of little logic but much finesse, Hidetoshi sent Jin quietly south to discover Momo, find out from her where she was helping the Christians to go, and execute her. Hidetoshi didn't want Momo's accomplices elsewhere along the path of disappearing Christians warned; he rather liked his strategy of poisoning the root of the tree before hacking off its branches.

Jin arrived at the large village where most of the food carts and trading caravans seemed to be last seen before disappearing into the forest or the ocean. According to the spies' accounts, the disappearances often seemed to coincide with the infrequent visits of a particularly obese woman who lived in a forest hut.

"The villagers meet her with gladness at market, and the children fight to help her carry her bundles home – she never has adult visitors, it seems, except for a young woman thought to be her niece. Apparently the locals figure the woman's too fat to be a mother, or she eats her children…" the spy trailed off mirthlessly, looking for a reaction from Jin. There was none. "But the carts disappear around the time she comes to town, and they never arrive at the next village for trading. Perhaps she eats the carts and drivers, too…" at this the spy attempted a grin, but halted it before it passed two teeth.

Jin, on his part, was glad to hear that his target would be such a discernible individual.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two: Blue moon

Jin's arrival at the village's only inn caused little stir once he identified himself as the servant of a wealthy merchant. He knew most innkeepers found the sight of two blades at least a touch disconcerting but the promise of future trade, travel, and thus prosperity eased even the most anxious businessman. Jin was able to inquire after caravan sightings and most business of the village without obstacle.

"Good sir, our village is certainly the most hospitable in the region, so we see many travelers and visitors, all year. The quieter folk keep to themselves in the forest, but we in the village and the fishermen below are quite content with the news and goods that our visitors bring…." The innkeeper fixed his eyes on Jin's downturned ones rudely but without arrogance. "More tea, sir?" He started to pour before Jin's grunt of approval hit the air.

Speaking to the cup of tea, Jin asked, "So you get a lot of visitors year-round…from where do they come?"

"Oh all over, sir. This spring, we even had a family of pottery traders from Fukushima. I don't know how all eight of them fit on their tiny cart."

Jin thought that would be a rather long trip for porcelain dishes to travel.

ooooooooooooooooooooooo

Late in the morning after his arrival, Jin set out from the village to search the forest. He followed the road leading west out of the village, away from the sea, for here the coast ran nearly north-to-south. He began to grit his teeth slowly in annoyance as he came across several cart-tracks departing from the road, heading in every direction. Pausing for a moment, he reasoned that as the disappearing travelers never seemed to end up in nearby towns, but were likely departing via the sea, that he should keep near the coast. He turned left down the next track and detected the faint scent of the sea.

Jin came to a point in the path where, oddly, an ancient tree forced the track to diverge around it. _Right, or left?_ he thought as he stood in the center of the path that had so unerringly ran straight to the base of the tree. He looked both left and right, then saw it – a glimpse of dark wood planks between two trees to the right. He diverted from the track and silently approached the structure. A shack, not old but already weathered-looking, sat in a small clearing. A couple of fat vines with bright orange blossoms lay on a low trellis alongside the dwelling, along with a few rows of other young green shoots. He could see a small pile of wood at one corner of the shack, and one poorly papered window sat above it. Jin froze to assess the scene before him: no fresh smoke, no sounds from behind the structure, no sight of movement within. He moved slowly forward, and confirmed the shack's vacancy with one eye at the small tear in the window screen.

Rounding the corner, Jin entered the shack. Small sacks of what appeared to be rice sat in one corner. A low table, small narrow tatami on the otherwise dirt floor, and chest made up the other furnishings. The chest held little more than some kimono (rather large) and a set of surprisingly long silk ropes. Though meagerly furnished, everything was neat and clean enough to suggest that someone currently lived in this dwelling. Jin decided, as he inhaled a little more deeply, that its owner was definitely female. There was a faint aroma, one he _knew_ to be feminine, though he couldn't quite know why, carried on the small breeze that was neither forest nor ocean.

Before _she_ returned, he knew he had to press on in his investigation.

Returning to the tree in the road, he now noticed what he hadn't while standing on its opposite side: another track, heading back towards the coast. Jin followed this path to its end and grunted slightly in satisfaction when he found it led to a small clearing above a seacliff, where the trees just met the cliff's edge before it fell into the rocks and waves below. From the far side of the clearing, a set of stairs roughly gouged out of the short cliffside led to a little lock. _Ah – the point of departure_.

Jin scoured the area, noting its likely recent use and its surprisingly well-concealed location on this particular strip of coastline. Several large rocks jutted out of the water just offshore, making this bit of coast unattractive to passing ships, and the waves seemed rather erratic, making it unattractive to local fishermen. Jin knew very little of the sea, but figured it would not be easy to depart from such a location. However, for these fleeing Christians, to consider the alternative….

His thoughts were interrupted by the sudden flare of orange from behind the trees – the sun was setting. He would have to return to the village. Jin followed the coast back in the growing dusklight.

Jin was deep in mediation as he trudged the pathless coastline, so that he very nearly failed to hear it. But being the finely-tuned assassin he'd become, Jin did catch the faint sound of a voice, humming a song very softly. He froze in his tracks to listen, and identify its source, then suddenly moved back deeper into the forest towards the sound.

The song came from a woman – average-framed, Jin noticed with very slight disappointment – moving swiftly through the trees. Her pale green kimono made it difficult to see her as more than a shimmer in the forest shadows, but now that Jin had caught the sound of her song, he tracked her unerringly as she moved gracefully but purposefully through the wood. Luck also helped guide him as the rising of a full moon began even as the sun set so that Jin could see the woman's moon-shadow dappled form between the trees ahead of him.

After over an hour of tracking, Jin saw the woman slow down and eventually stop at the edge of a clearing. From his vantage point, he could hear the woman take a few deep breaths and straighten her attire before she cleared her throat to emit a loud cough. Jin moved silently closer, hoping to get a better look at this woman, when he was distracted by the contrasting sounds of water flowing over rocks and a fire snapping a broken log. Moving ever closer, he saw the woman move forward into a clearing, which he could now identify as an occupied campsite.

The woman was quietly greeted by several figures that arose from around a tiny fire not far from the edge of a narrow river. Two more fires were ringed by people, some of them likely children. Several figures exchanged bows with the woman, and a couple of children ran to embrace the woman's legs. She let out a loud and happy laugh, which was met with some inaudible distress from the adults in the camp, but the children failed to let her go. Jin stayed hidden in the treeline and watched as after little conversation the woman settled next to one of the fires, and within twenty minutes all in the camp were asleep. He could see no evidence of goods for trade or Christian symbols or anything else suspicious or illegal. That, and the lack of an obese people trafficker led him to decide to give up this pursuit and head back to the village.

Jin was unusually pensive as he returned to his bed in the village inn. He replayed the day's search in his head as he drifted to sleep…there was something…something…about that woman's laugh….


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three: Through the thick and thin

Early the next morning, Jin awoke to the sound of his innkeeper knocking at his room's screen door. "You wanted to meet the next caravan, sir? Well, they've arrived and are arranging their packs now before they're on their way. The herb-seller warned them about Momo, sir, but maybe they'd feel better to know you are here to protect them…"

"W-what?" stammered Jin. "Did you…"

"Oh no, sir, I figured it would be up to you as samurai to explain your business to them directly…I would never presume…"

Jin raced to dress and smoothly took the stairs down three at a time to reach the street. He scanned the milling villagers; seeing no carts immediately, he headed towards the end of town near the forest. He strode quickly down the village street past the busy sellers' stalls: candles, fish, jars of ink. Jin slowed when he saw a small crowd of people clustered in front of a vegetable stall. As he approached, the crowd erupted into laughter, all faces nodding and grinning and a few elbows nudged their neighbors' sides. As the laughter ebbed, Jin could hear a woman's clear voice floating out from under the stall's fabric roof. Jin paused at the back of the crowd when he heard the woman's laughter – he knew it was the laughter he had heard in the camp the night before. Now, though, combined with the voice…Jin lifted his head to raise his eyes to peer at the object of everyone's attention.

The woman immediately met Jin's eyes in return. Her sparkling unblinking brown eyes widened slightly, then turned up in what he interpreted as amusement as the lower part of her face was in shadow. Jin felt exposed, staring at those eyes; he was bathed in sudden warmth as though the sun had moved closer to the earth. She held his gaze for two breaths, then returned her eyes down to the crowd around her and continued her funny story. Though he was barely listening, Jin was seized by a vague feeling of recognition that could have come from a tale or song or memory; the déjà vu was stifling and he frowned. The sound of grinding cart wheels awoke him from his dazed state and he turned just in time to see a pair of carts at the end of the village street start down the path through the forest.

Disgusted at himself for his lapse of attention, Jin hurried to follow the carts into the forest. They were manned by two middle-aged men, a woman, and two tiny children. The little caravan moved very slowly; Jin supposed their carts were very full, and they moved slowly for the sake of the men's strength as much as for the sleepy children. He was surprised when the carts stopped on the road just past the ill-placed tree. The men sighed and stretched, and squatted on the road, conversing quietly. Jin squatted too, in sight of both the carts and the shack not far away, watching…but the group just sat there.

And several hours later, they were still…just…sitting there in the middle of the road. Jin couldn't conceive of a reason for them to sit still, as though waiting for robbers or bad weather to descend up on their sad little group. Jin decided to make his way over to the forest shack when out of it walked a large wobbly woman. _Momo?_ he wondered as he watched the huge woman waddle from the shack to the forest road. Without a glance at the travelers camped on the path beyond, she headed towards the village. Confused but resolute, Jin followed the corpulent figure back into town.

ooooooooooooooooooooooo

Jin had supposed from the rumors that the spies had sent north that Momo would be a fearsome object of scorn or derision, a reclusive and repulsive figure unwelcomed in the village and thus outcast from normal society to live alone in the forest. To his surprise, once the woman reached the village street (despite her size and awkwardness she moved fairly well, implying that her bulk hid some strength), she was accosted by a line of eager food sellers peddling their goods. Jin stealthily skirted the row of stalls from behind so he could approach the lively scene from the other direction. He strode nonchalantly past the stalls, eyeing both the goods for sale and the slowly approaching throng surrounding Momo's advance down the street. He noted as he passed a sign on this morning's vegetable seller's stand: _Sold out! Thank you for your business._

Momo purchased many items: paper-wrapped dried seaweed, dried and fresh fish, dumplings tied into a square of cloth. She carried no pack, but somehow managed to arrange the bundles on her hips and up sleeves and tucked around her obi and still kept hands free for more purchases. In the meantime, the village children made a game of running up to Momo's back, tugging at her hem, and scuttling away before she could turn to swat at them. To Jin, the game was not mean-spirited, but rather had the air of familiar, good-natured, mutual teasing.

By afternoon's end, Momo had accumulated a prodigious pile of goods. Regrettably, Jin had been forced to make a few purchases of his own to explain his presence in the market; his unobtrusive air unfortunately failed to shield him from a few energetic and persistent sellers. Consequently, Jin (as proxy for Magistrate Hidetoshi and the Shogun himself, of course) now owned two squash, a square of silk of indeterminate purpose (what exactly was an "anker sheef"?), and a delicately painted fan, for his lady friend. Jin snorted softly. Lady friend, indeed.

Neither ninja nor samurai, Jin's half-life – sneaking around, feeding off of little bits of information and observation until he could strike correctly at the behest of his master – was profoundly solitary, leaving little space or time for any sort of private life. At the start of his employment by the magistrate, he had been quietly flattered by the freedom and responsibility given him; the magistrate relied on Jin's restraint and talent to sniff out his prey and execute whatever order had been placed, without calling attention to himself in the process. Jin attended his duties as honorably as he could remember honor to mean, and took great pride in his unwavering skill. Any disquiet he harbored over the nature of his work only seemed to manifest in dreams of blood and darkness under the moonlight. It was fortunate Jin no longer believed in dreams.

ooooooooooooooooooooooo

"Thank you, sir, it was my pleasure to serve you today." The dumpling-seller hesitantly grinned as Jin deposited his used skewers on the mat before him.

Despite the shadows cast by the vermilion sunset behind him, out of the corner of his eye Jin could see Momo's figure heading towards the forest road. Grunting at the man before him, he made to follow her. She seemed to be in no great hurry so Jin was forced to hide behind trees as they progressed into the forest. This was the part of his work that most irritated Jin: he had great trouble slowing his stride for any person so he was forced to wait and conceal himself repeatedly while tracking slow-moving targets. It affronted his efficient nature to play hide-and-seek. He would rather just remove the woman's head and be done with it, but years of such work had taught him to exchange efficiency for patience.

Momo reached the waiting caravan, where she met the waiting occupants and exchanged solemn careful bows. The men helped Momo mount the back of one of the carts, where she sat swinging her feet playfully, singing a song (_very badly_, Jin thought, _she is no artist_) to the children who were taking turns pushing the back of the cart as the group made its way deeper into the forest. True darkness never descended as once again the full moon had risen before the sun had completely set, making it easy to travel the forest by night.

At the hidden track that Jin now knew led to the tiny dock at the forest's ocean edge, Momo's group met more people. After a quick count, Jin realized this was the group he had happened upon the night before while tracking the green-clad singer to the riverside glade. Quiet assertions and discussion was shrilly interrupted by a child's cry of "_Momo-chan!_" which was hastily muffled by tones of warning.

Jin had his target. This rather ridiculous figure was indeed Momo, traitor to the Shogun, infamous Christian smuggler, mastermind of an elaborate scheme that spread like a web over most of the land. Though he'd certainly had few people that seemed less likely a focus of an exhaustive government's search and object for an order of execution, Jin had only to catch her in the act of helping this group on their way and his duty would be clear.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four: The killing time

Despite himself, Jin had to admire this woman's well-orchestrated operation. The sophistication of her plan resulted in the convergence of three families in this place, undetected, moving quietly through the trees under a bright full moon low-hung in the sky. Their ship, which undoubtedly awaited them at the little dock, would be able to sail the well-lit waters easily away from shore and out of the sight of the villages dotting the coast before daylight. The disappearance of nine adults and a half dozen children of various ages would happen without incident and would have left little evidence of their departure. Impressive.

True to expectation, a small ship was tied to the hidden dock. The families quietly began to load their belongings aboard ship while Momo approached the two man crew. From his hiding place, Jin could not see more than the three person-wide and more slender silhouettes of the trio as they conversed at the coast's edge, but their body language suggested an easy and well-established relationship. For all his magistrate's grand plan to "destroy the root of the tree" and then attack the rest of it, Jin noted the shape and characteristics of the crew in case he ever had to track them down in the future. It was interesting, however, that they seemed so well acquainted, with the ease of many such similar encounters.

The food from the caravan was brought aboard, and the smaller of the carts was passed onto the ship. Within a matter of minutes, everything had been loaded and one by one, the group bowed to Momo and walked down the dock to the waiting ship. The last to board was the ship's crew. Momo handed a small purse to the taller of the two men, and Jin had a glimpse of a scruffy ill-kempt face with a pointy moustache above sharp teeth lit silvery grey in the moonlight.

With some difficulty, Momo managed to untie the ropes mooring the ship to the little dock and tossed them aboard as the men pushed the ship from the rocky shoreline with long poles. The sail hoisted with a snap, the ship began to move away. Momo waved in farewell, standing in silence, listening to the lapping of waves against the dock. After a few moments, Jin could hear the murmuring of prayer in unison coming from the boat, a sibilant sound that rose and fell in cadence with the rushing of the waves on the rocks.

Jin rose from his watching spot, enraptured by the serenity of the scene before him: the large figure of Momo, standing straight and staring at the gradually receding ship; the strange music of the families giving thanks to their god as they sailed to friendlier lands; the bright silver moon; even the waves of the sea seemed tamed by the tranquility of the moment. He felt a strange disquiet like a bubbling up of nausea and it took him a moment to name the feeling: ambivalence. This was nothing like the chaos the magistrate had described; Hidetoshi had painted the Christian underground as a dangerous group of filthy rabble without honor and intelligence. Now Jin could see this was just a vestige of resistance of an oppressed people. He did not understand why the Christians had adopted their controversial faith in the face of persecution, but neither did he understand how such people, scattered from the countryside, could threaten the foundations of shogunate authority.

The snap of a twig broke Jin from his reverie. Cursing his inattention, Jin froze as he realized he had been standing in plain sight of Momo, retreating back into the forest, pushing along the now-empty cart. _Did she see me? I've lost it_, he thought; _I've seen what I need to see, but still I do not understand._

Curious, Jin followed Momo along the forest track. He was surprised when she did not return to her shack aside the main road, but instead continued on to the clearing from the night before, where the families had camped along the river. She never once glanced around her, so Jin presumed by some miracle she had failed to spy him at the shore. Once she arrived at the glade, Momo began dismantling the cart, and breaking up its larger pieces with a small hatchet. She wiped repeatedly at her brow, blowing errant strands of her wildly upswept hair out of her face. Jin resisted the urge to help her and watched, unsure of his motives in simply watching and not finishing his assignment. Momo started a small fire using a flint and began tossing cart pieces onto the little fire. Humming as she worked, she started hacking at the cart wheel when she suddenly stood straight, dropped the hatchet, and stretched her limbs in a break from her exertions.

When Momo moved a hand to untie the humongous obi circumnavigating her lumpy middle, Jin twitched in true alarm. Not wishing to dispatch his target in any undignified state, Jin hastily, and pointedly noisily, emerged from his hiding spot at the forest's edge. His hand rested casually along the hilts of the blades at his side, and he cleared his throat shortly while edging himself into the moonlight and of the glade. Momo stood with her back to the fire, surrounding her in an orange nimbus.

Momo's hands fell calmly from where her waist ought to be, to her sides. He could see the corner of her mouth raise in turn. _So_, he thought, _she _did_ see me before._

"Ah. Hehe." Momo chuckled in an oddly high voice. "So you aren't going to wait until I finish my work. Can't stand to see a woman in the flesh?"


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five: Sky hung with jewels

Jin's eyebrow twitched at the woman's nonchalant attitude. Her posture and tone of voice suggested that she understood Jin's charge, and yet was unperturbed. It was unsettling, but Jin knew bravado often faltered in the face of impending death. Jin stood a little straighter, and began to intone his usual manner: "Madam, I have been sent to execute you for treason. By order of Hidetoshi Karu, Fifth Magistrate of…"

"Spare me your explanation," Momo interrupted, and snorted. "I know why you're here, I knew you would come, eventually. The question is, are you here simply to kill me, or is there to be torture first?"

"I assure you, madam, no torture is required. Answer my questions directly, without delay, but then I will have to complete my duty."

Momo sighed melodramatically, rocking back on her heels. "Ah, duty, yesss…your duty to whom? The magistrate you serve like a dog, the shogun he serves like the son of a dog? Your duty means nothing to me, save the end of my life."

Jin took a deep breath. He was unprepared for a defiant (and talkative) quarry. "Hn. Madam, I…"

"Never mind." Momo began to stride slowly back and forth in front of him, shifting with the flames of the cart-fire bending towards her as she moved. "I will tell you nothing. I operate alone. I have no further plans to help any other families. Ever. I don't know where the ship takes them, and I frankly don't care as long as they're away from this place." Jin had to blink to follow the woman's swaying form against the firelight. "So now, if that's all you need from me, I suppose you should now do as you will…except…" she paused. Jin waited, and caught an unexpectedly calculating gleam in Momo's eyes that he didn't think was the reflection of the moon. "I'll have you know I won't be easy to kill."

"I assure you I am quite skilled." Jin grunted as if to prove the point to this overconfident woman.

"I know…" she trailed off, and then suddenly chuckled. For the second time that day, Jin was startled by such a sound, unused to the sound of a woman's laughter. Momo's chuckles gave way to an amused sigh. She raised her eyes to the stars above and her grin widened. Jin was transfixed by this odd woman's reaction to her situation. He was so entranced by her that he nearly missed her next half-whispered words, difficult to hear over the rush of the water of the nearby river and the snapping of the fire.

"Who would have thought this is where we'd end up, eh? But there'll be no fire to return to here, no tomorrow to plan for…." Momo lowered her head from her contemplation of the stars to look levelly at her assassin. Her hands were hooked in front of her obi. "Well, perhaps…you should…" she paused and tilted her head mischievously, "…do what you're supposed to do, before I throw myself into the river as I half wanted to so long long ago…" and at this, the woman looked back over her shoulder at the swift moving river racing toward the ocean, as though this was her means of defense.

Not relishing the thought of dragging an obese soggy body from the river, Jin rushed forward to stand at the other side of the fire. "Very well." He strode around the side of the stones of the fire to face her more squarely, but suddenly jumped sideways at the trilling of an object that flew past his ear from behind. Jin whirled his head around in some confusion, trying to assess his surroundings, and he was met with two sharp pains, nearly simultaneous: one in his hand caused his grasp on his sword hilt to falter; the other, at his temple, sent his glasses cartwheeling off his face into the starry sky above. In an effort to recoil from these attacks he began to fell backwards, watching glasses, stars, and the full moon above recede slowly into the growing darkness of the rising forest. The narrowing lucid part of Jin's mind barely had time enough to express his surprise at the precision of the woman's attack and the animalistic nature of the sound that had accompanied it before the stars, moon, and sky faded into utter black.

ooooooooooooooooooooooo

Jin awoke in twilight. He was lying on a tatami, with a pillow under his neck and a soft blanket covering him. An experimental finger wiggle told him his right hand was bandaged but it did not pain him; his left hand raised to his temple discovered another bandage around his head. He was surprised to find he did not hurt much at all, given his prostrate position, so Jin raised his torso a bit to examine his surroundings. At once the smell of broth and steamed vegetables reminded him that he hadn't had the time to eat the day before, and he had abandoned his squash in the forest sometime yesterday, when in a rush he remembered the moon, the stars, the river, and a very large…

"Ah, you're awake!" exclaimed a female voice from…another room, Jin presumed, because he could not see that anyone was in the room where he laid. Jin struggled to pinpoint the origin of the disembodied voice, when he recognized his location – he was in Momo's forest hut, and the voice came from a nearby window.

"I'll have some soup for you in a second!" came the same voice from a different window.

Jin struggled to make a sound but his voice first came out as an undignified croak. "Erk. Hem. Uhrrr…thank you…?" Jin managed to make the last bit sound like a question. No need to not be polite.

"You're welcome. Just because you're Momo's houseguest doesn't mean you won't be cared for and fed."

Jin was suddenly alarmed that his hostess was Momo herself, and scanned the room for his blades. Surprisingly, they were laying neatly next to his mat, nearly within reach. Assured of his immediate safety, Jin slowly sat up. A shadow crossed his lap, and he turned to the woman at the hut's threshold. She was definitely _not_ Momo, he decided, and relaxed a little, though now his curiosity was piqued. _What happened to me in the glade? Was this woman involved in attacking me? How did they get me here? _The woman lit a candle and Jin blinked when he realized how dark it was in the hut. Outside the sky was pink and purple in the approaching sunset. He stared at the candle flame as it seemed easier, and more polite, than trying to get a close look at his hostess in the shadows of the hut.

He opened his mouth to speak and was interrupted by the woman, who he rather thought had been staring at him. _So much for being polite._ "So, are you hungry? I have broth for you, and rice…"; she turned to collect some bowls from the table, and headed back outside. "Momo wanted me to tell you she'll see you soon, so don't you worry. She just had one more thing to do, and she'd be done forever." The woman's voice seemed to surround him as she moved about outside. "She wanted you to be fed and comfortable before you met again." Jin gave up trying to follow the source of the voice with his head and instead relaxed. Suddenly the woman reentered with a tray of something that smelled delicious. He heard rather than saw her blow a strand of hair away from her face as she set the tray at his side; all he could see was the glint of teeth and gleaming eyes reflecting the candle's light when she stood again.

"You're the woman from the vegetable stall, in the village," Jin exclaimed, then wondered how he had spoken aloud without concealing his surprise.

He was rewarded with a rich laugh he remembered well. "Ah yes, you did stop by yesterday, didn't you?"

"Who are you? What is your name?" _What does it matter? Why am I asking?_

She laughed again, softer this time. "Tamaiko. When I'm not telling silly stories to sell my vegetables, I check in on Momo to make sure she's doing okay."

Jin was silent, except for the polite slurping of soup. Tamaiko stared down at him for a few moments, to make sure he was eating, then briskly turned around to go back outside. Jin heard the sounds of digging or hoeing, and wondered what the woman could be trying to accomplish in the dusk, but found he was too hungry to bother his mouth with talk for the sake of chewing.

"Shall I tell you a story while you eat? Perhaps the story of Momo," she asked, punctuating each question with a thud of her tool in the earth and a little exhale. When he didn't respond, she continued.

"Well then, Momo would want you to know, so I'll tell you. Many years ago, her parents were killed for their beliefs – one was Christian, and the other's heart broke when he died. Momo saw what this did to her family, and over time, saw what happened to other families, too – the cycles of grief and bitter hope and faithful resolve that only came to grief time and time again, all due to their belief in a different god. So she decided to do something about it." Tamaiko was silent for a while, letting her work – _what was she doing out there?_ Jin wondered – take over for a few moments. "She found ways to create paths, not obvious to others but discoverable to those in need, to lead families here, a launching point for a new life." She paused again. "It wasn't easy, but the shogun might be surprised how many sympathetic people are dotted across the countryside. Even in these crazy times." The way she said the word "crazy" made Jin smirk involuntarily; he didn't realize he was smirking until he found the trajectory of his chopsticks hadn't accounted for the twist of his lips and he had a few grains of rice sticking to his upper lip. Discomfited, he neatly swept the rice into his mouth while glancing from side to side to see if he'd been caught. He cleared his throat quietly.

"Does she…" he raised his voice as politely as possible before his hostess? His jailor? interrupted.

"Does she know why you are here? Of course," Tamaiko snorted. "She expected you sooner. However, since you were so kind as to be discreet, instead of marching into the village with an army of thugs behind you or slithering in with a troop of ninja, she decided she might be afforded a little time to tie up her affairs before you meet again." Another pause, then the voice moved to the window. "For the last time." Tamaiko exhaled loudly, and Jin could hear the splashing of water. "Yes, if you are patient, she will give herself up to you." Jin strained to hear the next part. "If the tides are right, and the pirate sends word, you will see her soon."

"Excuse me?" Jin felt unaccustomedly baffled by this cryptic statement.

Tamaiko appeared on the threshold of the little shack. She bowed deeply and gracefully to Jin, who was still semi-recumbent on the floor. Her voice came out low and husky, though Jin could not tell whether it was from emotion or her bent posture. "Strike true, samurai, when you meet Momo once more." Tamaiko straightened. "Stay here tonight, then return to the village tomorrow. You'll know when it's time." She turned halfway, grasping the frame so tightly Jin could see her knuckles whiten even in the dim light. "Goodbye."

Jin heard the woman's footsteps run away from him into the starry night.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six: Fate up against your will

Jin's reappearance the next morning at the village inn caused the innkeeper some consternation as he'd already given up the room to another guest. Jin stood patiently, a disquiet eyebrow the only evidence of his frustration, as the innkeeper rushed up and down the hall, checking rooms and muttering worriedly to himself. The little man yelped in horror when he looked in the last room. He rushed in and within a few seconds, he evicted two chickens, a small boy, and the oldest woman Jin had ever seen. The troop of four marched placidly down the hall, past Jin, and descended the stairs. The innkeeper's curses followed soon thereafter.

After a number of minutes that shed doubt on the actual cleanliness of the room, Jin was ushered into his new suite. Though he was hardly fatigued after spending the better part of one night and a day unconscious, followed by a surprisingly restful night under Momo's roof, Jin needed to lay down. Though he was accustomed to doing most of his thinking while walking, and he had long ago perfected his meditative rituals, he was overwhelmed by a desire to lay flat on the floor, stare at the ceiling, and…muse.

It was not his place to question his orders; Jin had killed without hesitation enough men over the years to fill a temple and had never suffered from remorse. If he felt any emotion at all, it was usually irritation: at his foes' and victims' lack of skill, lack of intelligence, lack of manners. This time, though, Jin was beginning to realize that he might harbor some regret at the end of his current mission. Momo's formidable girth matched her spirit and determination, and he hated to think he would be the one to end that life. This realization boiled in his gut and turned his usual slight frown into a full-fledged grimace for a moment, until he remembered, though he didn't understand the particulars, that Momo _had_ bested him, yet spared him. At this thought, Jin stopped grimacing and began to clench his teeth in frustration. _If only I'd finished this job in the forest! I wouldn't be laying here in this ridiculous inn waiting for some mysterious sign from the woman I don't want to kill._ Jin fought to suppress any further unconstructive thoughts, and, as was his habit, began to recall previous encounters with opponents in order to analyze them for flaws in his performance. As such, within minutes, he fell deeply asleep.

ooooooooooooooooooooooo

"Tell me," asked Jin hesitantly, unsure of his own motives, "the vegetable seller, Tamaiko. How long has she lived in this village? Does she have a family?"

The innkeeper smiled as he set down a pot of tea at Jin's table. His eyes crinkled in delight at the thought that his taciturn but obviously high-class customer might have a crush on a local girl after only a few days. The samurai had been brooding for two days now, since his return from the forest. "Ah, isn't she special? I suppose you've seen her at market-time? Telling one of her stories?" At Jin's slight nod the little man continued. "Well, I've only lived here for five years so she's been here at least that long…to hear her say it, she was born on the mainland or the moon, depending on what day you ask her! But I suppose she's just got a fancy imagination, and has never actually left this area, except for business." He paused, glanced none-too-slyly around the main room of the inn, and crouched down to whisper to Jin's face, "You know, the one tale she tells, that I believe, is that her family was destroyed by Shimabara. Maybe not literally, of course, but I bet they were Christians."

Jin grunted. "Not uncommon," he said dismissively.

"Yes, yes, but to be alone in this world…for such a thing…" the innkeeper sighed expressively. "And then, a widow too…oh, yes, did you not know? She moved here after her husband died. Tsk, so now she's without a man. Not that she hasn't had offers, mind you, but our little Tamaiko says any man that would have her would have to speak to her father first." He sighed, stood, and began to clear Jin's table of dirty dishes. As he began to walk away, he called over his shoulder, "Of course, someone could always try to speak to her cousin, the pirate, if they could find him…" and at that he disappeared into another room.

_The pirate?_ _How many pirates could show up in this tiny village?_ thought Jin.

Jin rose abruptly. He had to talk to this woman, to have her explain her connection to Momo. _Why didn't I do this before?_

ooooooooooooooooooooooo

When Jin reached the sellers' stalls, insistent merchants immediately surrounded him. He had no time or patience for silks and fans today. He reached Tamaiko's vegetable stand and narrowed his eyes when he found it occupied by a tiny, wrinkled old woman with a meager basket of assorted greens in front of her. _If this is the hired help, how does the woman make a living?_ Jin asked himself as he politely folded his long body to address the woman face-to-face.

"Oooh, good day, great sir! You _are_ more handsome up close!" the woman cackled in delight.

Jin slowly slid his eyelids shut, his face a parody of pain. _One, two…_"Excuse me, is Tamaiko available?"

The crone cackled again. She opened her puckered mouth to speak but halted as she noted the approach of a customer. Jin stepped aside in annoyance, and surreptitiously shot intimidating glances at other passers-by, hoping to deter any other interruptions from potential customers. When the exchange was finished, half of the woman's goods had been replaced by a small clutch of eggs. _Some businesswoman._ Without preamble, Jin crouched down to continue his questioning. "Now. Madam. Tamaiko?"

She crossed her eyes at her interrogator. "You wish to speak to Tamaiko? Oh, so sorry sir, she is not here today. She asked me to sell the last of her harvest in her absence. You wouldn't be wanting her for vegetables, then, hmm, sir?" she queried insinuatingly. At Jin's tense twist of his head, she continued. "Well, then, great sir, I am sorry. I do not know when she'll return. She did pay me a whole month's wage, isn't that odd?"

Jin barely heard the little woman's increasingly garbled mutterings as he started to pay attention to a small but persistent buzzing in his head. _Tamaiko's disappeared, she's given this old woman pay for a month. Momo's disappeared, but will let me know when she wants to give herself up. What is going on?_ Jin raised his head suddenly, then stood and whirled around, his swords banging against his legs, as he heard far-off cries approaching over the sounds of alarm in his head. He turned his head quickly left and right, trying to identify the source of the sound. "Sir?…" the vegetable crone gasped in question and concern as she pointed down the street to the forest's edge. A large group of people was amassing there, and Jin sprinted towards the crowd. He followed their upraised eyes and arms to see a dark cloud shaping over the forest. Near the ocean.

"Fire! Fire in the forest! The fishermen have seen fire at the forest shore!" one man gasped over the din of the concerned crowd. In an instant, the milling villagers erupted into chaos. Shouts and yells filled the air as bodies collided and ricocheted off each other as they all attempted to scatter in all directions at once. Jin froze in the center of this Brownian bedlam, unsure of how to proceed, when he suddenly smelled smoke. This was much closer. In the same moment of awareness, another man came running from the forest track. "Fire at Momo's hut! It's heading this way!"

This announcement was met with shrieks and angry orders flung back and forth across the village street, as men and women began to emerge from buildings bearing buckets of water, heading towards the forest. Jin noted, dispassionately of course, that in their haste more water was sloshing out of those buckets than the villagers would ever be able to use in their fire-fighting efforts. A teenaged girl brushed past him, struggling to carry a washbin full of sudsy water. As she did so, a splash of water fell on Jin's foot. He frowned in annoyance at the girl, who gamely met his eyes with an expression that was both a half-hearted apology, half grim determination. As her large calf's eyes met his dark narrow ones, for the second time that day Jin heard that buzzing in his brain.

_What am I missing?_ Jin silent roar transitioned into a groan and his hand twitched as though he might have, had he been less self-disciplined, slapped himself in frustration over his own stupidity. _The fire, _he raged inwardly, _this is the "time" Tamaiko said would come. The time for me to finish off Momo. _

ooooooooooooooooooooooo

His waiting was over. Jin knew exactly where Momo would be waiting for him. Ignoring the tumult of the scrambling villagers, he veered away from the forest track to Momo's, and the nearly invisible track that would lead to the coast, where he knew a previously unknown little dock was burning itself into the sea. As Jin swiftly but quietly sped over the broken branches and underbrush of the forest floor, his mouth set in the harsh line of satisfaction that denoted the anticipation of a completed mission, he thought over the events of the last several days. He revisted the pang of regret he had felt at the inevitability of Momo's death; he recalled the lovely eyes and earthy charm of Tamaiko (_Lovely? When have I ever found anything lovely?_ ); he could see in his mind's eye the setting sun's orange light cast on a lonely little dock, and the same dock cast in silver under the light of a round moon. It was gone now, and soon enough so too Momo would be gone, as well as any need to think of Tamaiko. _Why can't I stop _thinking _about all this? Why is this assignment so…difficult?_

Jin's pace quickened as his ears caught the faint sound of moving water. He felt no need to be secretive now. With a little leap over some brush Jin entered the clearing by the stream. There was no fire, there was no one breaking up an old cart this time. Instead, by the light of the nearly full moon, he could see a large huddle standing on the rocks at the stream's edge, the soft _ploinks_ he heard presumably pebbles being cast into the moving water. Jin cleared his throat loudly, though the figure was already turning towards him. With a final toss, Momo flung a handful of stones behind her, into the swift current of the stream.

She stepped closer to Jin, who waited for her with his hands politely folded in front of him. She knew what was to come.

"Fate, eh? Here we are again," Momo sounded almost gleeful, but it was difficult to discern from her gruff voice. "Thank you for waiting for me. It was…considerate."

Jin was set off-balance once more by this strange woman's demeanor in light of her current situation. He resorted, as always, to formality. "Well, then, madam, by order of…"

Momo interrupted him once again. "Spare me…well, spare me the speech, anyway," she chuckled with a sound that was more like someone choking. "You'll have your due tonight; my, er, friends aren't here to protect me, but first, isn't there anything you want to know?"

"Excuse me?"

She took a half-step closer; her voice lightened. "Well, isn't there going to be any more to this than the killing part? Or is there nothing left to you but that?"

Remorse, self-pity, anger…these were all emotions Jin had witnessed before, but they had never touched him. Yet here was this woman, utterly resigned to her fate, to her imminent death, and there was nothing but pride in her stance and reproach in her voice. In that space, Jin suddenly felt trapped, buffeted by feelings long dormant, and this made him angry. His hand moved of its own accord to the hilt of his sword. He stood up straighter. _Enough of this. She called me a dog, before._

"Well, then," said Momo as she brought herself up to stand straight before him. She was so still, so rigid, that Jin thought she was about to faint. Jin's eyes twitched with need for a good eye-roll at that prospect when the round figure suddenly jerked forward, as if she was going to attempt to wrestle him.

He didn't have to think to act. Jin's sword hand moved and though a tiny thought as to how much effort it might be to dispatch such a large body flitted at the front of his consciousness, he pressed forward as he always did, by carefully honed reflex. Unfortunately for Jin, his target slightly shifted with unforeseeable speed to the side (_Ah, even the most brave are undone in the final moment_, he thought) so that instead of impaling her directly like a spitted eel, he only managed to catch her frame a little farther from her middle. To his surprise, his blade slid easily through cloth and (_What the hell? That's not bone._) something else until his hand and hilt bumped against the woman's belly.

Jin stepped closer in surprise at the contact with his victim. He gave his sword a little shake and was dismayed to find he could not move it easily. At his efforts, Momo gave a little hiss and Jin's startled eyes flew to hers. He was peripherally aware that she was smiling, but all he could look at were her eyes. As he stared into their golden brown warmth, something finally clicked into place in his head. Groaning slightly, he attempted to move backwards. He could only form one word: "Tamaiko."

"Ah, so the brain does work a bit, after all," she ground out through teeth clenched in that same tight smile. "But this time you'll have to finish me before I can drown myself in the river."

He looked down at his hand, to figure out how to extricate his blade, and noticed that there was…no blood. _What the…_he barely managed to think before Momo…Tamaiko twisted herself away from his sword, to his left, with a cry as she suddenly turned. In the end, Jin was left standing in shock with his sword still extended, yet this time a stretch of several colors of cloth and what appeared to be the remnants of a sack hanging from it. Each were dark-spotted, and in the moonlight Jin could tell it was her blood but so little of it. Mouth agape, Jin looked up again to the woman, who was now standing a pace away, hand pressed to the gaping hole of her costume at her waist, panting slightly.

"So you see, I'm not so easy to kill after all," she said lightly but with heavy breath. Jin shook the offal from his blade and shuddered again. "Do it," she goaded. "Finish what the Shogun started so many years ago."

Jin steadied his stance. _Momo._

"Finish what you started…."

Jin realigned his grip on his sword hilt. _Lovely eyes…._

"There's no bodyguard to stop you now…."

Jin's hands met as he swung his sword backwards, leaning forward towards the final blow. _At the sea cliff's edge, she trembled slightly at the menace of the man in front of her. She trembled until she saw…._

"Isn't it funny, though, that it's…."

Jin's sword ran forward. _She saw…me._

"….that it's _you_, Jin."

Jin barely registered the sound of her voice. All he could hear was the cry of seagulls, the sound of water, the buzzing in his brain as it all slammed into his awareness, past and present, flame and moon, and with a desperate cry he tried to catch himself from moving but he couldn't. In the end, it didn't matter. _What have I done?_ thought Jin as the blackness rushed up to meet him. A small thought reached him before he succumbed to the stars whirling in his vision, that once again his sword didn't feel quite normal when it struck its target.

He didn't have time to contemplate this mystery. Jin had fainted again.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven: Give yourself

In the darkness, Jin suddenly became painfully aware of his heartbeat. It grew louder and louder, faster and faster until all he could hear was a load roar. It abruptly stopped when he heard his name, clear, and concerned. "Jin, Jin, wake the hell up, Jin," it pleaded. With great effort, he opened his eyes. The moon sat directly over head, so bright he could barely make out the stars surrounding it. He blinked when its light was suddenly blocked by a looming face. "Are you awake? Jeez, there wasn't even my attack squirrels to stop you _this_ time. Is it that you're in the habit of fainting?"

_Attack squirrels? Oh, she's got to be kidding._ He struggled to sit up and was surprised to find his sword still in his hand. "I am _not_ in the habit of fainting. What happened?" Jin's brain was awhirl with confusion. With great effort, he focused on the woman kneeling next to him, and was deeply disconcerted to find her staring intently at him, apparently unconcerned with her astonishing appearance. She was wearing a pale yellow under-kimono graced with two dark stains on the sides of her waist. A complex web of leather straps and ropes hung from her shoulders, surrounding her torso like a limp cage. What was most puzzling was that she had a lapful of white rice grains, and rice was scattered on the ground around her. _What in the hell…?_

"Jin, you were about to kill me when you…fainted."

Jin scowled in irritation. "Of course I was! You're…" Jin voice stumbled a bit. "Wait, who the hell are you?" He reached out to grasp the woman's forearms. "Am I crazy? Or are you the girl I knew as Fuu?"

She suffered his grip bravely, and looked him straight in the eye. "Yes, I was Fuu. So very long ago. And you're Jin, who once protected me. And now you nearly killed me!" her voice raised shrilly. "It's a damn good thing your aim sucks these days, Jin, you stupid idiot…you mostly got my padding, instead." She glared at him.

Any remaining doubt Jin had that this woman was indeed Fuu disappeared with these words. _Yes, I remember she did have a temper._ His eyes traveled down to her waist again. "Fuu," the word had a hard time forming in his mouth, "did I…hurt you?"

Fuu shook his hands off her arms and shrugged off the leather and ropes to pat her sides tentatively. "No, I think I'm okay," she said more calmly. "I was lucky…though I _was_ prepared to die."

"Fuu…what happened?" Jin tried again, trying to make sense of all this. "What are you doing here? Who is…Momo?"

"I'm Momo, Jin, duh, that should be clear," she snapped. "I'm the one that has been helping families leave, I'm the one that you've been sent to kill." At Jin's silence, she continued. "I created Momo so that I could live in this place and do what I've had to, to get Christian families away." She folded her hands in her lap, took a deep breath, and said proudly, "I've helped over sixty families, well over a hundred people, to get away from the persecution and danger that befalls those who have chosen a different faith. After what I went through, I couldn't let other people suffer too. It took me a while, but I did what I _had _to," she ended simply.

Jin absorbed this for a minute, swallowed, and ventured another question. "So, you're Tamaiko, as well?"

Apparently relieved that he wasn't going to press her further on her activities, she smiled cheerfully. "You _did_ figure that out, then. Yes, I'm a legitimate resident of this village, and quite a popular one, too."

Remembering the enthralled crowd around her vegetable stand, Jin simply nodded. "Perhaps I should…" Jin trailed off, unsure as to what he was actually offering to do.

Fuu just stared at him expectantly. An uncomfortable silence grew, disturbed only by the sound of a tapping foot. Finally, she broke. "Well? Perhaps you should…what, exactly? I'm not going to interrupt you this time, Jin. I've grown up, you see." Her cheeks flushed with what could have been annoyance, desire, or anger. Jin looked her up and down with the seriousness of an imperial physician, trying to fit the little awkward figure of Fuu into Tamaiko's mature graceful woman's body. Somehow, it worked...he could accept this transformation. It must have shown in his eyes, because Fuu stopped tapping her foot and relaxed into a playful stance.

"Yes, I may be a 'stupid idiot', but I will get over it," Jin said indignantly. "I've had a lot to…adjust to…here, in a short period of time, you know."

"Well, uh, yes, you can imagine, then, what I felt when I saw you at my stall, in the street. I had no idea it was _you_ that would come to finish me, that is, Momo, off…."

"Er, yes, about that…" Jin stalled, unsure as to how to say what bothered him without appearing too weak.

Fuu saved him by rushing to interrupt his line of thinking. "Oh, don't you think that's unnecessary now? Obviously," Fuu turned to wave a hand over the tattered cloths and leather straps and rice grains strewn behind her that were now all that was apparently left of Momo, "Momo's dead. I knew I couldn't function as Momo much longer. It was only a matter of time before someone would find me out. I'm glad I had a chance to tie up Momo's affairs. Can't we, just, huh, call it quits? Your mission is done?" She bowed her head slightly, as though she was suddenly afraid of what twelve years might have done to Jin's sense of duty.

Jin responded to this little rant, clearly reminiscent of the young Fuu, with an indulgent snort. "Hn. I don't think this qualifies as my executing a traitor to the Shogun…" Jin paused deliberately to wait until she would look up at him…she did. "But if you swear that Momo's…work…is done, I don't know how else I could report this except as a successful mission." Fuu responded by giving him a dazzling smile, but he didn't see it, as he couldn't tear his eyes away from her warm, glowing eyes. His heart tightened a bit. _I almost destroyed this…her._

Simultaneously, they moved to rise, Fuu wincing slightly at the pain the movement caused to the shallow cuts at her sides. Jin regarded her as she began to wind the cloth at her waist a little tighter. His mouth tightened. "You probably won't want anything touching…there…for a while."

Fuu grinned in response. "Well, there's plenty of other places to touch, now, aren't there?" She laughed as Jin suddenly lost all color in his face. She spared him by continuing to speak. "Actually, this isn't the first injury I've had as Momo. Why else would I pad myself so exceedingly?" Jin could smile at this. Fuu smoothed the bottom of her under-kimono a bit and returned his smile brightly. Well, then, let's go see if I have a home left, shall we?"

"I thought Momo's hut would be burned to the ground by now."

"Er, I mean Tamaiko's house. You don't think I always lived at that crazy little hut in the forest, did you? No, I have a nice little home in the village, thank you very much. That is, unless they've not managed to stop the fire by now."

Jin halted, aghast. "Not the best plan, then, was it, to burn your headquarters to the ground."

"You're right, It wouldn't have been, had I not left nearly fifty buckets and ten barrels of water just beyond the garden outside it." Fuu grabbed his hand, leading them from the glade, scattering grains of rice in their wake. "Come on."

ooooooooooooooooooooooo

"So I'm more handsome up close, hm?" teased Jin later.

Fuu stared at him in mortification. He simply arched a black eyebrow at her and laughed invisibly at her loss of composure. After a long day of putting out fires, both at where the dock had, indeed, burned into the sea, and later at the vestiges of Momo's hut, he was tired, still a touch confused, and, well, more alive than he'd felt in a very long time. That feeling of rejuvenation was igniting, well, other fires as he found himself, once again, admiring the courage and charisma of the woman walking at his side. The villagers had welcomed her joyfully in their battle against the fire, and no one had questioned their mutual somewhat battered appearance when they burst through the thick smoke of the forest fire to help. If the innkeeper, who met them amongst the charred squash of Momo's vegetable garden, looked at them knowingly as they worked side-by-side, Jin pretended to not notice. The group of firefighters wearily made their way to the inn, where wine and sake flowed freely, and they celebrated with abandon well past sunset.

Sooty, tipsy, and rather caught up in maudlin musings, Jin hadn't protested when Tamaiko (_…Fuu…whatever_) had dragged him forcibly away from a couple of sloshed villagers who wanted to start another drinking game. Now, in the silence of the growing night, the tipsiness was fading and all he felt was sleepiness…and that damn warm feeling all over. He'd ventured to tease Fuu in an effort to break the mood, but her reaction, honest and charming as it was, only made it worse. He snapped out of his reverie to ask, "Where are you taking me?"

"Home. To bed." Fuu kept walking.

After pausing a moment, he rushed to catch up to her. "Fuu, I mean, Tamaiko, is this wise? I don't wish to compromise…" he stiffened at the tremor in his voice and the soft blackened finger that pressed against his lips.

"Compromise what? My honor? My body? Trust me, you don't have to worry about either. We're too tired, anyway. Let's just go _home_," she finished, plaintive.

He realized he really didn't want to argue, so Jin let himself be led to a modest, comfortable home at the other end of the small town. At the threshold, Fuu kicked off her footwear and knelt to help him remove his. She smirked at his stillness, rose slowly before him, and with the lightest of touches, smoothed back some sticky black strands of hair that were plastered to one side of his face. Fuu stepped backwards into the house, trusting him to follow.

Ignoring his trepidation, he did. Watching Fuu light a candle, Jin ventured to regard his surroundings. The home was much better furnished than Momo's had been, though it was clear that Fuu's unusual occupation left little room for luxury. She procured a blanket from a little chest and was arranging a cushion for him, next to what was clearly her sleeping space. Jin smothered his irrational discomfort (_After all, we did spend many nights next to each other before_) and went to join her, easing himself down onto the floor as she blew out the candle and settled down beside him. Neither spoke a word, and both fell asleep instantly.

The next morning, Jin awoke from a dream that was surprisingly flame- and blood-free. Instead, he had been walking through a cool forest, grey fog surrounding him. Never one to bother with dreams, he roused himself enough to roll onto his side to find Fuu gone, a note in her place: _Good Morning, Sleepy-Head. There's a tub in the back room, and I've gone to get food. _Underneath the note was a man's robe, neatly folded. Pleased with the prospect of bathing, Jin eagerly got up and made use of the still-warm water of the tub. He resolved to think of nothing but the serenity of being clean, and was lingering still in the tub when Fuu returned. He could hear her moving about in the front room, and picked up the aroma of lightly fried fish. Jin leapt from the tub, tied back his dripping hair, and donned the clothes she'd left him. _Hm. Not so broad in the shoulders_, he noted with curiosity and a touch of smugness.

"That smells delicious," he called into the next room. Fuu poked her head without warning between the doorway's fabric panels. Gazing upon his clothed form (_Is she disappointed?_ wondered Jin) she grinned.

"Well, come and get some, then," she drawled.

They sat facing each other as they ate ravenously. Neither ventured to speak, at first, but as the last of the rice and fish bones were set aside, Jin couldn't help himself. "Fuu, how…how are you?" He wasn't going to ask all he really wanted to…how had she taken care of herself? What men had been in her life? Did she hate what he'd become? So many questions…but he was afraid of their answers. _Later_, he thought, _there's no reason to think of this now. _But he couldn't help it. "Have you been…happy?"

Fuu set down her bowl and looked him fully in the eye. When he didn't flinch, she answered. "Yes, Jin, I have been happy. I have been very sad, though, too. It brought me great satisfaction to thwart the Shogun and try to help people who lived in fear. It made me feel like I could make things up to my father. He died without my forgiveness, you see." She sniffed slightly, and he stirred as if to comfort her, but she waved him back. "No, I knew I could never change what happened to my family, but I found I had the courage to help others. No little girls should have to have their families split apart over religion." Fuu paused for a moment, then her tone became playful. "So I guess my time with you gave me a taste for danger, after all, and I decided to _do something_. I was pretty good at it, huh? Got the government good and mad, eh? To tell the truth, I knew it wouldn't last much longer. So many years to plan, so quickly we had to move to make it happen…and now, here you are." She reached over to place her hands on Jin's shoulders. She gave him a little shake. "You're here, and after so long! It's like we've never parted!" Jin was frozen in her grasp, and could only nod. "I am glad it was you that came for me." Her mouth parted as her gaze fell from his eyes, to his lips, and further down. Jin looked down at himself quickly, then snapped his startled gaze back to hers.

"Fuu…" he couldn't finish. Not that he was normally talkative, but now found himself bathed in that warm light of her large brown eyes, and was struck mute.

Her eyes never leaving his, Fuu slowly and deliberately slid a flat palm down from Jin's shoulder, over an instantly hardened nipple, to rest at his groin, where a playful thumb flicked the inside of his thigh. A groan escaped him. She purred in a deep Momo-voice, "Let me show you what I've learned since last we met."

ooooooooooooooooooooooo

Jin grunted contentedly as Fuu snuggled down alongside his nearly paralyzed body; his brain was still numb and he was surprised to find strength enough to shift his arm to curve around Fuu's silky back. He was surprised to find that she was content to lay with him, still and silent; the Fuu he remembered would likely have been chattering away incessantly after such an…event. Strangely enough, it was he who suddenly felt compelled to speak.

"So…what now?" Jin shuddered slightly at the thought that he had so very nearly killed the woman at his side. Fuu, who he'd always wanted to protect….

"Now, as in this afternoon? Or tomorrow? I can think of a few things…" Fuu smirked suggestively and gave her own little wriggle to emphasize what were surely wanton thoughts.

"No, woman, I mean, I _was_ supposed to kill you…that is, Momo…that is…who _are_ you now?" Jin blew a thread of hair from his face in frustration again. _Where are my glasses?_

"Ah, I see. Well, I'm still Tamaiko. Though I've shamefully been avoiding my business of late, I still have something to my name."

Another grunt from Jin punctuated his recalling a conversation with the innkeeper. "Yes, your vegetable-selling. Did that come from your husband?" Jin's voice cracked a bit with a sudden surge of…_Was that jealousy?_

Fuu popped up from Jin's side, breasts bobbing heedlessly (_Fuu _has_ grown up_, thought Jin) as she sat up to look at Jin's face. "Husband? To whom have you been talking?" Fuu's face took on a curious mix of shy virgin (her mouth) and impish devil (her eyes). "Asking around about me, hmm? Well, there never was a husband…it made it easier to say so, to keep a lot of the men away. Young widows usually incite pity, not lust, you know. Not that there hasn't been a man around before, mind you, but these villagers don't seem to mind if my "family" comes to visit me, right?"

Jin, now roused from his blissful stupor by the prospect of getting some other questions answered, pushed himself up onto his elbows to get a better look at Fuu. "Yes, uh, well, right. So is this the pirate you spoke of?" Jin tried to sound a little less jealous this time.

She turned away from him a little and laughed like a rolling wave, the laugh that so charmed her customers. She turned back to him, playfully slapping his taut pectoral. "Oh Jin, are you really that dense? Haven't you figured…"

Jin never got to figure out anything, because at that moment a figure burst into the room, dark framed against the morning light spilling in from the doorway. Jin was on his feet, hand inches away from his nearest blade, hair hanging all around him (but not long enough to cover his intimate bits) by the time the figure spoke. Jin froze, and blinked in despair. _You're kidding me._

"Oy? What's this I hear about a fire? And what the fuck is fish-face doing here?"

~Fin~

ooooooooooooooooooooooo


End file.
